The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. McGilley, United States Coast Guard, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as the Aircraft Commander of MH-60J Jayhawk helicopter CG-6006 on the night of 3 December 2007. Launching from Air Station Astoria Oregon, during the height of a winter storm of unprecedented ferocity, Lieutenant Commander McGilley battled torrential rain, severe turbulence, poor visibility and hurricane force winds en route to a series of inland rescue missions marked by dangerous terrain, hypothermic victims, and poor communications. Exhibiting exceptional courage and aviation skill during the eight hour mission, he led the crew of CG-6006 ninety nautical miles through low ceilings, numerous ground obstacles and steeply rising terrain to reach Chehalis, Washington, where hundreds of people were endangered by cold rapidly rising flood waters. With all ground-based air traffic control disabled by the storm, he demonstrated consummate professional expertise by assuming On Scene Command and establishing order among the numerous responding aircraft. He coordinated rescue operations with the Lewis County Emergency Operations Center, assigned missions, established flight rules that deconflicted airspace and ensured the safety of Coast Guard, Navy and Sheriff aircraft operating in close proximity. Concurrently, Lieutenant Commander McGilley guided his own crew to rescue people from rooftops and through the upper windows of darkened homes engulfed in fast-moving water. He demonstrated expert aeronautical skill while flying the aircraft at its operating limits into landing zones surrounded by trees one hundred fifty feet tall and while conducting hoists only feet from dangerous obstacles including live power lines. Lieutenant Commander McGilley’s actions, aeronautical skill and heroism were instrumental in the rescue of 39 people. His courage, judgment, and devotion to duty in the face of hazardous flying conditions are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.